[GWSG] Coal tax in India; CO2+CH4; 9.5% on metals; sensitive model; Murdoch's folly; 8 charts; PPAs; EVs in China

[Tilley, Al]

1.  India is financing their solar program partly by doubling the tax on coal.  Utility-scale solar power is expected to be cheaper than new coal power in India by the end of the decade.   http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/modi-accelerates-solar-revolution-doubles-tax-on-coal-57890

2.  The urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has recently been posed (by the NY Times, among others) as a choice between acting on CO2, and acting on methane and a package of other forcers more short lived than CO2.  Joe Romm assembles expert testimony that we need to act on all fronts.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/10/3457703/climate-co2-methane/?elq=~~eloqua..type--emailfield..syntax--recipientid~~&elqCampaignId=~~eloqua..type--campaign..campaignid--0..fieldname--id~~

3.  Producing metals takes 9.5% of the world’s energy.  Iron and aluminum are the greatest pigs.  http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2014/07/iron-driver-climate-change

4.  NOAA has developed a high resolution climate model able to deal with regional precipitation changes.  It has identified the drying of Southwestern Australia as due to human causes, and predicts increased drying as the century goes on.  http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/14/southern-australia-faces-water-crisis-by-end-of-century-due-to-climate-change

5.  Australian Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, which includes Fox and the Wall Street Journal, does not consider that climate disruption has much in store for anyone save low lying islands.  “We shouldn’t be building windmills and all that rubbish.”  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/13/3459584/rupert-murdoch-climate-change-rubbish/  As of February 2013, new wind power was cheaper than new coal in Australia.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-06/australia-wind-energy-cheaper-than-coal-natural-gas-bnef-says.html  The Guardian supplies more on Murdoch’s ignorance and its impact.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jul/14/rupert-murdoch-doesnt-understand-climate-basics

6.  Eight charts tell the story of a planet increasingly suffering under climate disruption.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2014/jul/14/8-charts-climate-change-world-more-dangerous

7.  Private companies may contract through a power purchase agreement to place and maintain solar panels on the roofs of homes or business and sell them the power produced.  Utilities typically claim that such practices are tantamount to acting as a utility.  The Iowa Supreme Court is the latest to disagree, making them the 23rd state where such arrangements are legal.  http://grist.org/climate-energy/in-iowa-solar-is-fighting-back-against-utilities-and-winning/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%2520July%252016&utm_campaign=daily

8.  China is mandating that electric vehicles make up at least 30% of central government auto purchases by 2016; the provinces come under the order following that.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/07/china-requires-electric-vehicles-to-make-up-30-percent-of-state-purchases?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-July16-2014
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